First Assembly of God Church in Shrewsbury describes itself as a “multi-cultural congregation who welcomes and values people from all walks of life.”

Now, thanks to some significant environmentally friendly upgrades, the church can claim to be stewards of the earth, decreasing its environmental footprint and in the process blazing a green trail that they hope others will follow, according to Reverend Antonio Parenti, senior pastor.

ho first proposed the idea to install photovoltaic solar panels, which convert the suns rays into usable electricity, on the roof of the church and its office building.

Weve definitely become more environmentally conscious in the past few years, Parenti, who is in his ninth year at the First Assembly, told redbankgreen in his office, adjacent to the Sycamore Avenue church. Number one, the panels will serve to make the buildings more environmentally friendly, and number two, over time they will save us money – allowing us to use our funds for God more efficiently and effectively.

Another Sea Bright business is back, six months after Sandy. Below, Amanda and Ming Zheng in their New Super Golden restaurant. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

In the minds of Sea Brighters, each business that reopens in this storm-walloped town is another step toward their goal of getting the beach community back to normal in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Late last week another longstanding establishment was able to open its doors again.

Everything about Sea Bright was great before, and hopefully the town remains that way now that we are all starting to come back, said Amanda Zheng, who owns the 20-year old New Super Golden Chinese restaurant with her husband, Ming.

Reunited once more for their most ambitious tour in over 25 years, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong take it to the boards of the Count Basie on May 1 for an evening of mirth, music and munchie-inducing classic routines.

By TOM CHESEK

Is this any way to observe 420 Day? If you’re the elder stoner statesmen Cheech and Chong, you’ve spent that nationwide celebration of cannabis culture in seemingly uncharacteristic fashion  up before the sun, doing tightly scheduled rounds of press, and interfacing with fans on social media platforms that range from Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest and everything short of Christian Mingle.

Truth be told, Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong have a collective work ethic that’s seen them embrace new tech, new formats and new channels of distribution almost as fast as they’re dreamed up  and, with their first big tour in over 25 years now underway, the Grammy-winning kings of most media have a lot of lost time to make up.

On Wednesday, Cheech and Chong’s Third Reunion Tour finds the gold-plated “cult” stars of stage, screen and stereos heading into Red Bank for an 8 pm appearance at the Count Basie Theatre in which the pair recreate many of the classic, bongwater-basted sketch routines from their smash comedy records of the 1970s  a post-Woodstock era that routinely saw single releases like Basketball Jones, Earache My Eye and Sister Mary Elephant” crashing the Top 40 charts (and causing as much angst among radio programmers as among parents of the nation’s easily corrupted youth).

It’s a debut for the duo, in the borough that claims a couple of their spiritual offspring  Jay and Silent Bob  as “homegrown” favorites. It’s also a chance for the veteran comedy team to promote the first new Cheech and Chong project in a generation  the soundtrack to the feature-length Cheech and Chongs Animated Movie!, with nine all-new songs augmenting a cartoonified collection of vintage vignettes from such discs as Cheech & Chong’s Wedding Album, Los Cochinos, and Big Bambu (coincidentally, Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie! kicked off its tour of screenings and podcasts on 4/20).

With Marin having stretched his mainstream chops in recent years (through projects that ranged from playing cops on network TV series to producing a series of children’s music albums)  and with Chong’s intermittent screen appearances overshadowed by a controversial 2003 federal prison sentence (documented in detail here) for selling drug paraphernalia online  the stock characters of the street-savvy Chicano and the eternal hippie look to take on new dimensions of time and tide and life experience.

4/20 came and went without a scheduled phone interview  but an apologetic Chong called the Comedy Desk at redbankgreen the following evening to bring us up to date. Flip the record over for more, man…

Duane Bowker stood in the wooded area above the Swimming River in Red Bank and pointed.

“Some roofer, this is his favorite place to throw his crap  and drink beer,” he said. “Over here is a plumber’s favorite place to throw his crap.”

The occasion was Saturday’s cleanup effort by members of the borough Environmental Commission and the environmental nonprofit Clean Ocean Action. They teamed up to tackle a riverbank full of tires and construction debris at the western end of Drs. James Parker Boulevard.

Six months after it was all but obliterated by Hurricane Sandy, Sea Bright is gradually getting back on its feet, as evident in the extensive repair and rebuilding underway.

redbankgreenphotographers Peter Lindner and John T. Ward teamed up to create this slideshow of images of the town before, during  Lindner gets the credit for all of those  and after the historic October 29, 2012, storm, with the final shot in each grouping taken over the weekend of April 27 and 28, 2013.

Mais oui! As proof, thousands of visitors jammed the White Street parking lot Sunday for the second annual Red Bank International Flavour Festival, bringing appetites not only for food, served up by two dozen of the town’s restaurants and food stores, but for dancing and general bonhomie.

redbankgreen was there with its point-and-shoot. Were you? Check out our collection of 75 snaps if you’re unsure.

A Tinton Falls man is facing eight charges of animal cruelty for allegedly wrapping the muzzles of two dogs with duct tape and punching a puppy in the head, law enforcement authorities said Friday morning.

Joseph A. Valentino, 41, of Cherry Street, is alleged to have abused three dogs from September, 2012 through February 2, 2013…

“…when he wrapped the muzzle of Stitches, a one-year-old Bullmastiff, with duct tape and trimmed the nails on the dogs paws using a power tool despite the animal being fearful of the nail trimming; choking Stitches to the point of the dogs tongue turning blue and abusing the animal to the point it defecated on itself,”

according to a press release issued by Victor Buddy Amato, Chief Humane Law Enforcement Officer at the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A weekend of belly-busters and bargains awaits visitors to Red Bank’s International Flavour Festival on Sunday, above, and the Townwide Yard Sale on Saturday, below. (Photo by Alexis Orlacchio. Click to enlarge)

RED BANK: The Electric Baby continues its run at Two River Theater. The drama follows three pairs  a middle-aged couple, a hopelessly devoted lover and the apple of her eye, and a Romanian mother and Nigerian father caring for their child  who discover the ways in which their lives are connected. The play, by Stefanie Zadravec, runs through May 5. Tickets are $24-$42 and the show begins at 8 p.m. 21 Bridge Avenue.

Championed by state Senator and Red Bank resident Jen Beck  who won her seat in 2007 after a battling an opponent she tagged as a fake farmer  the reform bill signed by Governor Chris Christie this month goes too easy on wealthy individuals, developers and owners of office parks who took advantage of the old law to duck some $95 million a year in local taxes, the Sledger says.

All facilities are expected to be open after Memorial Day, the park service said in an announcement. (Click to enlarge)

Closed to the public since Hurricane Sandy hit on October 29, Sandy Hook is expected to reopen next week, federal officials said Thursday.

And in a change from earlier post-Sandy recovery plans for the battered peninsula, visitors will have access to all six beaches after Memorial Day, according to a press release from the National Park Service.

It was a tale of two tax plans in Red Bank Wednesday night as the mayor and council advanced the 2013 budgets for both the municipality and RiverCenter on a relatively light agenda.

The borough budget  proposed at $21.2 million and containing a 7.7-percent tax increase, to 52.9 cents per $100 of valuation  was originally scheduled for an adoption vote at the session. An adoption vote is now anticipated at the May 8 meeting, said borough CFO Coleen Lapp.

Meantime, the spending plan, which would have the owner of a home assessed at the borough average $396,000 paying $2,054, is subject to possible changes, she said.

Enjoying our beautiful Navesink River on a warm spring afternoon Wednesday were an osprey, above; a fisherman on a paddleboard, right; and crossing squads of girls’s and boys’ rowers, below, all seen from a dock on Haddon Park in Red Bank.

The weather Thursday should be just as warm, with sunshine and temperatures reaching the mid-60s, but possibly too windy for rowers and paddlers, with gusts up to 16 mph, according to the National Weather Service. (Click to enlarge)

On April 23, 2013 Detective Kelly Godley of the Middletown Police Department arrested Darius Williams, age 24, from Witmer Place in Long Branch, NJ, for Armed Robbery, Possession of an Imitation Firearm for an Unlawful Purpose and Theft as a result of the April 18, 2013 armed robbery of the Raceway Gas Station located on Highway 35 in Middletown.

The arrest came after Detective Lieutenant Raymond Chaparro and Detective Sergeant Jeff Pilone of the Long Branch Police Department located a vehicle that matched the description of one used in an armed robbery of a liquor store in Long Branch on April 22, 2013.

On April 23, 2013 at approximately 8:30pm Middletown Police responded to a two car motor vehicle crash at the intersection of Newman Springs Road and Half Mile Road in Lincroft during which three people were injured.

Patrolman Michael Reuter conducted an investigation and determined that a taxi cab driven by John Curtis, age 39, from Monmouth Street in Red Bank, NJ, was travelling east bound on Newman Springs Road and failed to stop for the red light at Half Mile Road. The cab then struck a vehicle driven by Edward Stratton, age 55, from Arbor Drive in Howell, NJ.

It’s one of the inarguable upsides of immigration: the tickling of America’s taste buds. And visitors to Red Bank are among the beneficiaries this Sunday as the White Street parking lot morphs into a smorgasbord of border-crossing cuisines for the second annual International Flavour Festival. Sponsored by Red Bank RiverCenter, the event highlights the output of grilles, ovens and stoves of two dozen Red Bank restaurants and food retailers, with live entertainment and thousands of friendly faces from noon to 7 p.m. Rain date: May 5. (Click to enlarge)